Greatwood Hurdle Tips 2026: Back Burdett Road To Win It Again

Billy Grimshaw previews Sunday's Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham, where 20 go to post and the favourite Idaho Sun has never raced on good ground. His best bet is a former winner of the race at a double-figure price, and there are selections for the rest of the November Meeting on our Cheltenham tips page.

I am writing this on Friday evening with the ground at Cheltenham good, good to soft in places, and 20 declared for the 3.10pm, a bigger field than any of the last ten runnings. Idaho Sun heads the market at 7/2, with Harry Lowes, Let It Rain and Pioneer Pete next in and plenty of daylight after that. I went through ten years of the race for our Greatwood Hurdle trends piece, and the headline was that this is more predictable than it looks: fresh horses have done well, the winner usually comes from near the top of the market, and hold-up horses have not won it on good ground since at least 2017.

Idaho Sun ticks some of those boxes. He is unbeaten in three over hurdles, he won the Grade 1 Formby at Aintree on Boxing Day, and he comes here fresh for Harry Fry. My problem is the ground. All three of his wins came on good to soft or softer, he has never run on good, and he was taken out of a race at Ascot last November when the ground was good, good to soft in places, which was slower than it is here. Add a 324-day absence, a handicap debut and the fact that last-time-out winners have won only two of the last ten runnings from 44 tries, and 7/2 is too short for me.

Harry Lowes is a fresh five-year-old for Dan Skelton, which is the right profile, but he is held up, and only two of 43 hold-up horses have won this race since 2017. Let It Rain is the Skelton runner Harry Skelton has chosen, and she is the one the trends like most, coming here fresh and likely to sit in midfield. She only won a Class 3 at Stratford last time, though, and I am not convinced 6/1 leaves much room. Pioneer Pete is the one I fear most. He has won his last three, including the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Chepstow last month by four lengths, all of his wins have come on good or good to soft, and he will race prominently. Against him, he has already had a run this season and won last time, two boxes the recent winners have not ticked.

The one I want is BURDETT ROAD, who won this race two years ago when he made all on good ground. He went on from that to finish third in the Christmas Hurdle, second in the Kingwell and second in the 2025 Champion Hurdle at 66/1, and he was beaten only a length in a Listed hurdle at Kempton on good ground in October 2025. That is better form than anything else in this field has shown over hurdles, and he runs off 141 here, which looks a fair mark for a horse who has finished second in a Champion Hurdle.

His recent form needs some explaining, and I think it can be. He went chasing last season and was third in the Arkle Trial here on heavy ground, then spent the summer running in big handicaps on the Flat, which was never going to be his game. His return over hurdles at Carlisle on 22 October was more encouraging than fifth suggests. He was held up in rear, made a mistake three out and was beaten under six lengths in a Listed race, so that run should have put him right. Sam Twiston-Davies, who rode him in the Champion Hurdle, is back on board, and I would expect him to be ridden much more positively, as he was when he won this race, on good ground that suits him.

There are risks. He has already had a run this season, which has not been a help in this race, his jumping can be sloppy, and with The Kemble Brewery and Pioneer Pete also keen to go forward, he may not get the lead to himself. He is also outside the first six in the betting, where most recent winners have come from. But 12/1 with William Hill is a big price about a course winner with Grade 1 form who comes back to his best conditions, and with five places on offer, BURDETT ROAD is my each-way bet. Pioneer Pete is the chief danger.